The first regular TV broadcasting in the world originated in Britain in 1936 and employed the 405 line system developed by Alan Blumlein’s team at EMI – which went on to develop a TV-like radar system called H2S.
Conspiracy theorists think the UK government encouraged the work on TV mainly because it secretly helped pre-war stealth work on radar.
Alan Blumlein also developed a stereo sound film system very similar to the Dolby system of the 1970s.
In 1967 the UK pioneered the used of 625 line PAL colour, invented in Germany by Walter Bruch of Telefunken.
The PAL system (Peace At Last) solved the colour problems experienced with North America’s NTSC system (Never Twice the Same Colour).
In the pre-digital era, the BBC made the quartz delay lines that the PAL system needed.
The UK later led the world into mass adoption of Digital TV through an ordinary aerial, using the European DVB (Digital Video Broadcast) system.
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Alan Blumlein.
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Blumlein's radar...
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...was developed from 405-line TV.
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Recognition of Blumlein's work & achievements began in the 1960s.
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Decca Chief Engineer Arthur Haddy...
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...made Bing Crosby's last recordings.
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Blumlein also developed stereo film sound.
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An early 405-line TV set.
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BBC Outside Broadcast.
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The BBC made its own quartz delay lines.
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...in the 19-inch racking standardised by AT&T, c.1922.
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Friends & family at the Blumlein blue plaque unveiling in Ealing.
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Francis Thomson, the 'biographer' of Alan Dower Blumlein...
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...never did produce a biography.
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Nokia was still in the TV business in the early 1990s, with this 'Olympic' set.
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The UK starts Digital Terrestrial TV on 15 November 1998.